Emergency Vehicles and Bus Lanes

Lum

vax2002 wrote: »

He says : The Ambulance drivers should use the route that offers the quickest and safe route, that the use of Blue Lights and sirens is an aid not a necessary and at Bus lanes, he would have switched off the sirens and used the bus lane as it causes less panic than leaving them on full time and the Ambulance would gain a considerable advantage just like buses do in that lane and if he needs to hop out in to traffic, hit the hooters, he also says that emergency vehicles are exempt from bus lane rules .

This! Just because you are on a shout does not mean you have to use blues and twos, and there are occasions when it's best not to.

Police officers do this all the time, most obviously when they don't want to alert the criminals that they are coming, but they also do it when they are moving quickly through free flowing traffic and don't want to mess up the traffic flow by panicing all the drivers in front. Using a bus lane is actually a great example of a situation where you wouldn't use blues.

(As an aside, this is something people should bear in mind before getting on the internet and moaning about police drivers appearing to break the law "and they wern't even on an emergency call".)


Going back to my example from last night's fog, and the person who was still doing 100. Shortly afterwards a police vehicle came past even faster (I think it was a BMW estate, but not certain). They were not running on blues* but it's pretty likely that they were going after the guy doing a ton, and taking advantage of the fact that with the fog, the guy they were after would not be alerted to their presence.

I've also seen plenty of ambulance drivers who only switch their blues on when they reach a congested area and actually need people to move.

In fact, the only reason I can think of that this ambulance chose to push everyone into the bus lane would be if they were turning right up ahead. Can the OP confirm or deny that the ambulance made a right turn?


* They also did not have their rear foglight on, because visibility was still above 100 yards

adriandilly

Just been in to the city.. and again an ambulance appears. This time the driver uses the nice empty bus lane to get past us. All traffic was moving, the ambulance stuck to a modest 40, and no one pulled over to the left in front of it! OMG people, it IS possible :O

adriandilly

Lum wrote: »

Can the OP confirm or deny that the ambulance made a right turn?

They would not have needed to, no. On two of the occasions there was no right turn for quite some distance.
On separate occasions an ambulance and a police car have both forced cars left where the bus lane starts (at the junction of Gurney Road and A1074 Dereham Road, Costessey)... You can see that the next right turn off Dereham Road is a long way (Larkman Lane). Also meaning this is a lot of cars to push past

Lum

Just because the right turn isn't for some distance does not mean it's still better to go down the right hand lane.

Problem with blues and twos is they can distract people's attention away from the other lights on your vehicle, such as indicators, so you may struggle make it across one lane to make your right turn. Even at a long distance it may still be better to try and push everyone across into the bus lane.

It's ultimately down to the individual driver's judgement, though from the situation you have described, and assuming that they did not later turn right, then they should probably have used the bus lane.

FWIW, the ambulance drivers for the Royal Gwent hosiptal always use the bus lane, that exists for most of the route between M4 J28 and the hospital, and it never causes a probem. At the points where the lanes merge people manage to give way to the ambulance just fine.

muckybutt

This is how emergency drivers are taught to drive http://youtu.be/qM3GBgNTZxw not to intimidate drivers and to use the siren when necessary - not all the time !

muckybutt

neilmcl wrote: »

Evidence???

Also happened in Bradford in 2010 but to police who had to cough up to begin with http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/8472419.Police_caught_by_cameras_in_blitz_on_bus_lanes/

Sgt_Pepper_2

Stigy wrote: »

But that would be an issue wherever the emergency vehicle is coming from. Occupational hazard of a blue light trained driver? They have to take in to account what other drivers might do, and there's as much chance of an accident happening wherever on the road they are.

Occupation hazard.

Do you speak from experience?

Sgt_Pepper_2

Lum wrote: »

This! Just because you are on a shout does not mean you have to use blues and twos, and there are occasions when it's best not to.

Police officers do this all the time, most obviously when they don't want to alert the criminals that they are coming, but they also do it when they are moving quickly through free flowing traffic and don't want to mess up the traffic flow by panicing all the drivers in front. Using a bus lane is actually a great example of a situation where you wouldn't use blues.

(As an aside, this is something people should bear in mind before getting on the internet and moaning about police drivers appearing to break the law "and they wern't even on an emergency call".)


Going back to my example from last night's fog, and the person who was still doing 100. Shortly afterwards a police vehicle came past even faster (I think it was a BMW estate, but not certain). They were not running on blues* but it's pretty likely that they were going after the guy doing a ton, and taking advantage of the fact that with the fog, the guy they were after would not be alerted to their presence.

I've also seen plenty of ambulance drivers who only switch their blues on when they reach a congested area and actually need people to move.

In fact, the only reason I can think of that this ambulance chose to push everyone into the bus lane would be if they were turning right up ahead. Can the OP confirm or deny that the ambulance made a right turn?


* They also did not have their rear foglight on, because visibility was still above 100 yards

Spoken like the true armchair expert.

Stigy

Sgt_Pepper wrote: »

Occupation hazard.

Do you speak from experience?

No, that's why I posed it as a question (Albeit slightly rhetorical?). Having said that, I do work closely with Police and have been on a number of blue light calls with them. I'm not an expert but do use a common sense approach to things like this.

The reason I posed it as a question was that one would think that drivers trained in emergency response are expected to be able to judge things that those not trained in response driving would not necessarily think about (new drivers for example, who aren't as experienced as others).

Sgt_Pepper_2

Stigy wrote: »

No, that's why I posed it as a question. Having said that, I do work closely with Police and have been on a number of blue light calls with them. I'm not an expert but do use a common sense approach to things like this.

So what do you do to go on a blue light run?